Bulk backup of data or databases involves copying an entire database file and any corresponding log files to a backup location, and this type of backup is relatively efficient. When conventional bulk backup methods are used, the resulting set of files represents the database at a point in time at which the backup was performed. Through the use of log files, changes to the database as a whole between two points in time can be efficiently represented, and the database as a whole can be restored to some previous point in time at which the backup was created.
These bulk backup methods, however, provide no useful way to understand fine-grained changes to individual database records. The bulk backup makes no provision for restoring only selected content to a previous point in time, and no provision for identifying changed content for archiving or analysis of only the content that changed. Many databases provide a separate, content-oriented interface for this specific purpose, but these interfaces are not efficient, and often impractical for use in protection and analysis of the entire database. This is especially problematic when the database is an electronic mail (email) database used as an email store, because the ability to conduct analysis, archiving, and restoration of individual emails becomes a necessary capability in the email database.